Researchers are able to link "anonymized" credit card data to owners

Credit cards and other forms of digital payments may be convenient to use but of course, they leave a digital trail that can easily be traced back to the owner. Such is apparently also the case even when personally-identifiable information...

was able to reidentify 90 percent of shoppers by using just four random bits of information.

Click to expand...

And what four random bits of information might be shared within a credit card transaction? Could it possibly be four bits of information needed to prove you are who you say you are, before making a purchase?

This does not surprise me, and with the bit about social media, I am glad that I do not actively participate with social media. The statement about social media just makes me think that the more people participate, the less private they are, (which is absolutely stating the obvious) but this kind of information is tantamount to telling people that the more use of social media, the higher the risk of identity theft, etc.

I also do not leave my CC data with any company I deal with. If you ask me, Amazon is a prime (pun intended) offender in that they insist that CC data left on their site is secure, and automatically save it with no choice when purchasing (it can be deleted, but you have to go to your account to do so). Personally, I don't care what Amazon says, and given this report, no CC info anywhere is secure, so Amazon insisting on saving it for your convenience for future purposes exposes all their customers to a greater risk of CC theft or worse. I certainly do not need the convenience of "one click buying" at the greatly increased risk of CC theft or worse. I am just waiting for the day when Amazon announces they have been hacked. I'll be the first one to write their customer service and say, "I fracking told you so."

In my opinion, retaining CC info beyond the purchase should be made illegal.